Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 5.djvu/76

64 loss at only 20. Anderson s and Gary s losses at Gaines’ Mill could not have been more than 350, which was less than a half of Gregg’s loss. Anderson and Gary were only engaged in the last attack, and Gregg was righting from the opening of the battle to its close, with a short rest in the afternoon.

Referring to the gallant conduct of officers as well as soldiers, General Longstreet remarks in his report upon the battle of Games Mill, that &quot;there was more individual gallantry displayed on this field than any I have seen. General Whiting, in closing his report, pays the same tribute to a number of soldiers, and especially remarks upon the conduct of Maj. John Haskell, of D. R. Jones staff, who had volunteered to carry information of the Federal movements to General Lee, as they were observed from the south side of the Chickahominy, and acted on General Longstreet s staff, as a volunteer aide. General Whiting says:

Though not on my staff, I should not do right were I not to mention here the chivalrous daring of young Major Haskell, of South Carolina. His personal bearing in a most deadly fire, his example and directions contributed not a little to the enthusiasm of the charge of the Third brigade. I regret to say that the brave young officer received a terrible wound from a shell (losing his right arm), but walked from the field as heroically as he had gone into the fire.

The South Carolina batteries were more fortunate in their losses than the infantry commands. Rhett, whose horse was shot under him, lost 2 wounded at Gaines’ Mill; Bachman’s battery (German Artillery) and McIntosh’s, only a few men each. The nature upon the ground was not favorable to the Confederate artillery, and the batteries engaged under great disadvantage.

Under cover of night, following the 27th, General Porter made good his retreat by the bridges he had built across the Chickahominy, passing in rear of McClellan’s fortified line on the south side, and destroying his bridges